Times of Change
by 13robina
Summary: In the battle against Aizen, The Central 46 and most of the Gotei 13 joins up with Aizen to take Kurosak Ichigo's powers to use on the shinigami. Things didn't go so well for Ichigo and his group of friends, and he has to make a choice that will kill him and everyone, or kill everyone and leave him alive. That is until an unexpected arrival appears. Time Travel, Sort of AU but not.
1. Chapter 1

Blah blah: normal text

"blah blah": normal talking

 **"blah blah"** : someone using demon/hollow powers/arrancar in resurrection speaking

" _Blah blah":_ normal person thinking

" _Blah blah"_ : zanpakuto speech

" _ **Blah blah"**_ : inner hollow/demon speaking in mindscape

 _ **PROLOGUE**_

It was all over.

The remains of the final battle with Aizen could be seen for miles around within Soul Society. Craters littered the devastated surrounding landscape, occasionally occupied with an unfortunate corpse or two belonging to those who were at the wrong place at the wrong time. However, this is not where the end begins.

Several miles outside the Rungokai was a cave. Inside lay the nearly dead remains of the team of humans lead by Kurosaki Ichigo, as well Abarai Renji, and Ichimaru Gin. This group however, was missing its orange haired leader.

Three shadowed figures stood on top of a floating platform, each grinning in the presence of success and accomplishment. Kurotsuchi Mayuri half held a limp figure that was known as Kurosaki Ichigo, the visored,substitute shinigami, and the only living zanpakuto wielder of soul society, who was slowly losing that last particular title. Aizen Sousuke had Kuchiki Rukia slumped at his feet and was triumphantly holding the Hogyoku up to the light, while his blind accomplice, Kaname Tousen just looked happy to destroy Soul Society. Each member looked as if they had been put through a blender from the state of their clothes and their bodies, but their smirks counteracted what their bodies presented.

The final battle had reached an impasse, going in favor of the Gotei 13 when Tousen screwed up, until Kurotsuchi and his loyal daughter, Kurotsuchi Nemu, switched sides on the last second, much to everyone's surprise. The man was notorious for being underhanded, but even they did not expect another Taichou to betray his own forces at the last moment. Needless to say tempers were high and morale was low.

This is where the story begins, and ends.

As he drifted through what he would describe as the brightest place in the universe, the only thought that went through Ichigo's mind was: _"Was this what Shinji and the others went through? Three hours of this is torture, let alone five! No wonder the they died, I mean sure the guy is as strong, but honestly! This place is driving me NUTS!"_

After about seven hours into the extraction of his reiryoku, Ichigo was taking a break from trying to get out of wherever the hell he was in. He was captured, about to die, and on the verge of a tyrannical new world order, but he dealt with his panic and depression four hours ago due to one of his unspoken promises to himself to never follow the path of the emo. He had seen what it did to Ishida and he did NOT want that to happen to him.

He was about to try resurrection yet again and attempt to force his way out of the endless light, if there was an exit, when he felt a huge presence come from right behind him. Whirling around, he turned just in time to see a huge black tear in the middle of, well whatever the hell he was in, rip open and a blonde teenager spill out in an ungainly manner, and land in a heap with a moan of pain.

Ichigo is not the definition of a genius, yes he does have a mask to hide his true skills and yes he's not that stupid, and while good with tactics, he sucked at strategy (although his social skills and obliviousness to romance are indeed what people think they are), he was 115.7% sure that whatever Kurotsuchi was doing to him did not involve some random teenager his age falling through a tear in the air. Gawking at the boy, Ichigo took in his appearance. The youth was in his late teens, roughly 5'5'' tall, give or take a couple inches, with shaggy blonde hair with long bangs that spiked a little,framing his face pulled back into a short ponytail at the base of his neck. His eyes were bright blue with slitted pupils.

Ichigo watched as the teen slowly picked himself up, swaying dangerously during the process. He was handsome with high cheekbones, a defined jaw line, three whisker marks on each cheek. He wore a pair of loose, black cargo pants with many pockets with tan combat boots, a navy long sleeve shirt that had a red spiral on each shoulder. To top it off, the boy wore a khaki green vest with the same spiral symbol embroidered between the shoulders and leather arm bracers on his each arms that covered his palms but left his fingers free. Even though he wouldn't admit it, the guy looked pretty cool from a Ichigo's perspective… like something a person would expect from a manga, minus the swaying of course. Suddenly, the man suddenly stumbled over hurling what looked like his lunch near the observer.

"Ugh, damn Kamui. I guess I should have learned how to actually control it from Kaka-Sensei before he died", the stranger groaned "Now where am I?." Turning to face Ichigo, but still swaying rather dangerously side to side, the new arrival continued, "Oi, you wouldn't happen to know where I am, would you?"

Ichigo, desperately trying to ignore the smell of vomit, stumbled back a few steps, pointed at the unknown boy in an exaggerated way and shouted. This was an improvement compared to ten minutes before, but the boy still wasn't going to take any chances just yet. "Who the hell are you, and how the fuck did you get here? I couldn't even get out!

The new arrival simply turned to face the boy, seemingly making eye contact with the 16 year old, and stared for what seemed like a good hour. " Then he started to laugh and yell to himself. A lot.

"HAHAHA! Oh my Log, I can't even believe that there is someone so similar to me, both in personality and ideals. This is great." Looking around his at his surroundings, the blonde sobered up quickly. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and if I'm correct, this is a technique used to drain the power out of a jinchuriki. Judging by the amount of power you have now, I can safely say that you only have 20% of your power left. If you don't escape now, you will be completely drained in the next twenty minutes.

Ichigo couldn't really respond to what this guy said. Out of nowhere, a complete stranger appears, claiming that he screwed up a technique before completely changing his personality and stating that his power was getting sucked out of him. Turning away from the man he muttered "I've been here too long and am seeing things, gotta get out before Zangetsu gets taken out of me and save everyone." He made a grand two feet before a firm hand grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back. The man glared at Ichigo and he felt something that caused him to fear this man. His presence, his intent… it wasn't human.

"Care to repeat that kid? What do you mean, before the demon gets taken out? What happened?"

Ichigo could tell this was not a question, it was an order. So he did what any person who could think straight and valued his life would do, he explained what happened. Aizen's rise to power, Kurotsuchi's desire for his unlimited growth potential and strength, and his Visored And substitute shinigami status.

Naruto nodded seriously. "Just to let you know, you're going to die and it's impossible for you to get out of your current situation. If you stay like this, your hollow will be extracted from your body, you will die, your friends will die, and the spiritual balance will fall into chaos. If someone stops the ceremony that the scientist is putting you through, the Kyuubi's chakra will rush back to you in a massive surge and cause an explosion that will kill everyone in about a ten mile radius." He crossed his arms and nodded his head sagely as if he had come to a conclusion that didn't affect him or the world in the slightest. "Yep. No if's and's or but's about it. You're friends will die either way."

This stopped Ichigo in his tracks. A multitude of emotions ran through his mind as Naruto explained what would happen, and throughout the entire thing, Ichigo could tell: He's not lying. "Th-that can't be true." He whispered in denial. "My friends! My teammates! My teachers! You mean to tell me that all that fighting was for nothing?!" Down on his knees, the orange hero sank into depression, or was about to when the guest yanked him back up and slapped him in the face with practiced ease.

"Hold on there Mr. Almost-Emo, I said you were hosed This time around. I happen to have some powers other than traveling between dimensions and worlds, thank you very much. One of which will be quite appealing to you if you are interested." He gave the boy a confident smirk that reminded the substitute shinigami of himself whenever he came up with an awesome strategy or technique.

Ichigo looked at the dimension traveler skeptically, "What, like time travel?" in a more than sarcastic tone.

The man made a funny sound as he tilted one of his hands from side to side. Ehh… I guess it is time travel. I can take you to any point in time but your current self of that time will be erased." Naruto stumbled to the side and threw up with a passion. Ichigo managed to jump away in time to not get covered in the stomach fluid, but he could do nothing to get away from the smell. Coughing, Naruto righted himself up again and groaned. "Ugh, kamui makes me sick… As I was saying, I can do something that is like time travel, but not. I'll explain later but for now it would be enough to say it's a one way trip and it only goes back. You will be the only one to remember what has happened afterwards, I can't make it so that your friends remember later. There will be rules though and I expect you to follow my orders when I give them to you since this isn't my first time doing this and I can make sure you don't do anything stupid. Screwing around with the past is unpredictable, and things don't always happen the same way even if you try to repeat everything perfectly.

Naruto, taking all this in stared at the man, who claimed to be able to turn back time. After ten minutes of deliberation, he replied. "What's the catch? There's no way you would do all this for free, I don't even know if I can trust you. What do you want… Naruto?"

I'll tell you my terms after I tell you the rules. This is the first time I've fixed a timeline, so change as little as possible unless you truly believe that it is for the best outcome. I cannot stress this enough. What you know is absolutely useless if it doesn't happen in the first place. That means don't try to pick up Rukia or Orihime the first time you see them, take your time and be subtle, don't try to be Ishida's best friend right off the bat, don't scream about Aizen's plan to invade Soul Society to the Seireitei, and for Log's sake DON'T start showing off. You are still the same orange gangster to their younger counterparts, don't give them any reason to think otherwise.

"So what is your price for doing this?" Ichigo questioned, looking at the blonde as he thought of an answer.

"My one condition is that you have to succeed.", The blonde smiled sadly. "All I want you to do is to save your friends. Do what I was never able to do." Becoming more focused, the blonde spoke again, "I… don't really like using this particular ability kid, it brings back some unwanted memories. I'm doing you a damn big favor by using this power for you… so be grateful."

Ichigo, eager to see how this guy was going to turn back time and save everyone nodded. "I can't believe that I am getting a second chance, and I'm not going to waste it."

Naruto grinned ferally. "Then back up strawberry. you are about to see a legend in action. I've been called several interesting things during my travels, and I can assure you, none were earned simply because they sound as awesome as I am." A rip appeared in the air of Ichigo's prison for the second time that day. "Are you ready kid?"

Ichigo nodded with a determined scowl and walked up to the tear in space and time. "I'm ready." With those words he took off at a sprint.

"Oh yeah, kid!," Naruto hollered. "I forgot to mention that you have to watch your friends die in the most painful ways as you run through to the other side." He waved, "See you on the other side. I hope you can keep your sanity!"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I forgot to put one of these on my last chapter. I was wondering if any readers of this could possibly review and give me feedback on this as it is my first fanfiction.

I do not own naruto, bleach, or any references I make.I do own any jutsu or kido I make, as well as any OC's (although there probably won't be any). I would sell my soul to Sebastian if i could get the rights to these mangas.

 **[1]**

How long had he been there? Days? Weeks? His concept of time was continuously being distorted as he floated in the darkness. The last thing he remembered before getting stuck in his current situation was running into a rip in space. He would have been terrified, but because his mind was so diluted and foggy, he could only settle for scared and uncomfortable.

He wanted to leave. He wanted to escape, but no matter where he went, all he encountered was darkness.

Then came the memories. He was watching his friends get killed in the most brutal ways possible. Poison, blood loss, getting torn to shreds, all right before his eyes. He had tried pinching himself, closing his eyes, even going as far as biting his hand hard enough to feel the bone between his teeth. Yet still he couldn't leave the darkness. His body began to move on its own, the sucking power changed rapidly. He felt as if he was in a fight, but with who?

Stop. he wanted it to stop. He had enough. He didn't want to watch. It was too dark. Too long, The energy was starting to hurt him, the darkness was getting deeper. No, no more, stop stop STOP!

Suddenly he couldn't move. He was becoming even more scared now. What was holding him with all this energy going through him? He struggled. Freedom of movement was one of the few things he had left to him in this lightless hell and now even that was taken from him. He thought this was the end, he was going to die. He thought back and remembered all the horrible things he had done when free. Torturing, killing, blackmailing, but he had been on the receiving end as well. More than once he had been taken advantage of by his teammates, occasionally some of his seniors at secret villages. He had enough. He was ready to die now…

Suddenly a feeling of relief spread throughout his body, warm… comforting and alive. It was giving him strength again. Moments later, the link that connected him from that draining sensation was somehow severed… as if a blade slashed through him, but only cut that single bond. It stopped that tremendous flow of energy from his body and was preventing whatever was around him from stealing it. Why? He wondered. Why was this happening to him? Who was doing this? This feeling was something that he doubted existed in his army or range of techniques, then what?

He was starting to hope again. He wanted out of the darkness. He wanted to be free again. He fought. He fought against all that was around him, he fought against all the pain he had surrounded himself with and pressed forward, where for some reason he felt as if his salvation laid waiting for him. His feelings were somehow correct as a light slowly grew in front of him. With one last burst of strength from his exhausted body, the boy made his way out of his prison and collapsed on the ground made of branches and leaves.

His consciousness already fading again, he took in as much as he could as his body was flipped on its back by powerful but gentle hands. Looking up, he could make out the face of an old man with grey-white hair and a beard to match smiling gently down at him with a staff in one hand and his other on his chest glowing with a strong white light through his tear filled eyes. He had seen this man before somewhere, but he couldn't remember where from.

"Wh-who?" He rasped out, finding his throat to be exceptionally dry at the moment. If he had more energy at the moment, he would have done or said something about the old man's hand on his chest, but he was so relieved to be free that he couldn't care less.

The man chuckled gently as his hand moved and the glow increased. "Just call me old man, young one. You have been through alot, and I extended your trip from two years to 100. If you still have your memories, you'll know what I am talking about." The glowing hand moved to his head. "Rest for now."

The darkness enveloped him again, but it was nowhere near as scary as it was before.

Ichigo woke up in a daze, not knowing what had happened to him, what day it was, and unable to recall anything beyond rescuing Rukia. All he could tell was that he was alive and that his body was killing him, as if he had pulled every muscle in his body at once and then had slept in the worst possible position right afterwards. Groaning to himself, he managed to push his body to the upright position and attempted to rup his eyes, only to find that his right one was covered with a bandage. Already he could smell the distinct scent of disinfectant among others that indicated that she was either in one of Kurotsuchi's human experiment labs or the 4th division barracks.

Considering how clean and bright his room was… he was going to go with the 4th division.

As his vision cleared, Ichigo turned and saw that there was a window showing him a wonderful view of a city with large surrounding walls… that couldn't be right. He was still in Soul Society?

Before he could think of anything else, the door to his room opened, immediately putting the young shinigami on guard walked in looking at a clipboard. The woman glanced up to see the boy conscious and paused. "… how long have you been awake?" She asked carefully, keeping an eye on him.

Ichigo frowned as he picked his words carefully. He had no idea what day it was or what was happening. "A few minutes… why?"

The nurse nodded as she went back to leave the room. "Please stay there. Unohana Taichou will arrive shortly."

Ichigo's internal warning signs were immediately picking up something as the woman left. The shinigami was clearly on guard as soon as she realized she was awake. Looking at himself more carefully, he saw that his hands were cuffed to the bedposts, though they were given plenty of length so that he could have some space for movement. Sighing to himself, the boy laid back down in his bed gingerly holding his ribs and decided to wait for more information before he tried to escape from the seireitei in nothing but a hospital gown with half his body still asleep and numb.

 **[1]**

Flashback/Dream: _Ichigo, listen ta me – if ya find a way out, take it. Don't come back for us. Got it?"_

 _"I can't do that!"_

 _"Yes ya can, and ya will! For once in your life, kid, don't be a hero and put yourself first!"_

 _"I'm not trying to be a hero! But what kinda person would I be if I left you guys behind?!"_

 _"A smart one. I mean it, Ichigo. Ya got a long life ahead o' ya; don't be an idiot and go wastin' it on mistakes like us. We've lived long enough; we've had centuries. You haven't even lived two decades."_

 _"Like that fucking matters! I'm not letting those Central 46 bastards execute you!"_

 _"For god's sakes, we've taken prisoner and yer bleeding out. They should have got ya healed because they need you alive. Now's not the time to worry about anyone else!"_

 _"Hey, I'm not the only one- the only one injured here, you hypocrite."_

 _"I'm not critically injured; there's a difference, idiot. Dunno what the hell ya were thinkin' when ya ran ahead ta fight Aizen. Ya shoulda known ya'd be seriously wounded after ya killed him."_

 _"As if I knew Central 46 was going to- to send in Shinigami to capture me."_

 _"You're tellin' me. It's run by corrupt bastards after all. ...Ichigo? Oi, stay awake. No sleepin'. Didn't know ya still needed ta take naps at this age."_

 _"Screw you, Shinji. 'm just resting my eyes. For a while. I'll be fine. When I wake up, I'll get us all outta here, 'kay?"_

 _"Not okay. Stay awake, Ichigo, ya hear me?"_

 _"Mm..."_

 _Then he was running. Running as his friends threw themselves in front of attacks meant to kill him. He was the reason why his friends were dying._

 _"_ _Kurosaki Move! I can't have you die before you defeat Aizen for us." Ishida shunted him away from an onslaught of poisoned needles and took the full brunt of the attack._

 _"_ _I-ishida… no! Why would you do that? I thought you said you wouldn't save me and would leave me to die if I went down. You need to - you need to become stronger than me."_

 _"_ _Kurosaki, you're such a-" he coughed, "- an idiot. Don't remind me of my goals right before I die. It pisses me off that I couldn't beat you or restore the Quincy Clan."_

 _"_ _What do you mean? You're not going to die, you're too strong. Right? You need to teach Ryuuken-Jiji how to defeat hollows without destroying their souls! Soul Society will accept Quincy again! I'll carry you out of the battle field so Hanataro can heal you."_

 _"_ _Hanataro is dead. Did you forget? Please tell me you didn't forget your friend died. Anyways, it's pointless trying to save me I can feel my lungs failing from the poison. I'll be dead within ten minutes, probably less. Now get the fuck out of here before you're killed yourself!"_

 _Ichigo stayed with Uryuu for twelve minutes until the spark of life in his eyes faded._

 **[1]**

Ichigo awoke once again, this time as Unohana Retsu entered the room with her familiar serene smile. She glided over to him before sitting down in the chair next to the bed. "So, how is the patient doing?" Ichigo looked up dully as he heard her voice. Before turning away, his visible eye dull with no life to it. While he had been sleeping the images of his friends and family dying over and over rushed into him and thoroughly confusing him and giving him one hell of a headache. He had no idea why his friends would have been dying because Soul Society had pardoned them and let them live.

Unohana ignored the boy's response to her presence and began to run a diagnostic Kidō on his body. While he was no longer in critical condition, the lower ranked shinigami that had found him had only done a patch job to keep him from dying or internal injuries or blood loss. He still had several broken ribs, severe blunt trauma to his head and a large amount of bruising to his torso. His eye covered by the bandage would most likely not function properly again, even after Lieutenant Kotetsu Isane and Unohana herself had extracted the poison that the unseated officers had neglected. There was also an absurd amount of scar tissue all over him that had not been mentioned in his medical report.

Cancelling her Kidō, Unohana turned to her mystery patient and recalled what she knew about him. He was found in the 72nd district of the East Rukongai. He was found by a group of Shinigami officers on their return trip from a Hollow hunt. She cleared her throat gently to get the boy's attention. "I have good news and bad news for you Patient-San. Except for your eye, I can heal every wound you currently have without any repercussions. The emergency treatment you received earlier did not address the poison in your eye, so it is most likely that you will lose the sight in it and the cut that delivered it will scar badly."

Ichigo turned towards the healer, slowly reaching for the bandaged portion of his face. "I-it won't work?" He rasped, trying to comprehend the loss of half of his sight. "I need my eyes. How am I supposed to protect my precious people if I can't see?" He began to hyperventilate. "Rukia… Uryuu… * **gasp** * Renji, Orihime No come back! I-" He swallowed" – I need to protect. YUZU! KARIN! Don't die. Please don't leave me." He didn't recognise any of the names that he was saying. They were just coming out and he couldn't this point he was on the verge of passing out.

Unohana watched as the boy convulsed in terror, pulling on his restraints so hard they cut into his wrists. She understood that he wanted the use of his eye back, but it was the names he cried out after. She recognized Rukia and Renji. _Why would he be calling out the names of Kuchiki Byakuya's sister and 11_ _th_ _division's 6_ _th_ _seat?_ She started, realizing that she should put the boy back to sleep before he hurt himself.

The last thing Kurosaki remembered that day was a glowing green hand reaching towards his face.

 **[1]**

 **With Naruto:** "Shit shit shit shit! Where is he?" Naruto had followed Ichigo through the Jikan Gēto (Time Gate) and come out at the end in Karakura Town. He had searched everywhere for Ichigo, and he meant everywhere. Naruto had checked in all of the buildings in the town. This included the bathrooms and the sewers under the streat. It also involved several screaming girls as he searched the bath house.

Giving up on his search in the year 2001, Naruto opened another time passage and ran through it to the year 1997. Still no Strawberry anywhere in sight. Opening another gate, Naruto decided to go to a random time and hope for the best. He knew that unless someone had interfered with his technique, Ichigo wouldn't have – Wait. As Ichigo had gone into the rip in time, Naruto had felt another presence. An ancient presence which meant that Ichigo could have been taken back by a minimum of 100 years before the present. That means he would have had to spent at least 3 months in the Jikan no Sekai (World of Time) That was bad. It was very bad. It was bad enough having to watch your friends die horribly. It was even worse if you had to be in their body and feel the pain yourself, which is what long periods of time in the Jikan no Sekai did. It meant the boy he was trying to help would have almost definitely lost his sanity or forgotten everything to protect his mind. This was not good at all.

Exiting the gate, Naruto found himself in a place that sort of reminded him of Konoha after Madara destroyed it. The buildings were run down and there were people everywhere looking hopeless. Naruto walked up to one of the men sitting on the side of the road. "What year is it? And where am I?" the person in question looked up with a frown before turning away. Undeterred, Naruto spoke louder. "OI. I asked you a question. What year is it? Answer me dammit. I need to find someone!"

Naruto finally received his answer in the form of a tired sigh. "it's 1897. Now can you please leave me alone?

"One more question before I go. What is the giant wall over there?" Naruto waved his arm in the general direction of the wall. "It looks important and it's a habit of mine to raise hell in important places."

"Seireitei. Now kindly piss off. Can't you see I'm trying to sit and mind my own business? It's dangerous to talk to strangers."

"Yeah, Yeah. Thanks!" Naruto took off in the direction in the now namer Seireitei. It was time to have some fun and find a strawberry while he was at it.

 **[1]**

 **A/N:** I will aim to update this fanfiction every week and a half but It will probably vary. I hope anyone who reads this enjoyed this chapter. Please give me feedback, although I would prefer no flames. Also I don't know a good chapter length so please tell me your preferred length.

When I start using Kidō later in the fic, the not cannon ones will be based on the ideas of others because I am an un-creative freak so I probably don't own them.


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